- Theory is always subordinate to practice: If
a theory doesn’t work (isn’t true) when you put it to the
test, it can’t be true. Knowledge is tied to practice.

DOING, not just KNOWING

2.
EXPERIMENTAL/EMPIRICAL: Is
not the same as other sciences.

No one is altogether mistaken; you can find
evidence from people who disagree with you. Aristotle
studied what other people had to say about things.

Precision is relative to the subject matter at
hand.

-Mathematics is not
truer than biology because they are different subject
matter.

Different methods = Different truths.

3.
TELEOLOGICAL: (telos = end
purpose)

Everything has a purpose/goal/function attached
to it.

Human
being have a purpose (What is it?)

BOOK
1

Aristotle is talking about the ‘end’ – the goal
or purpose –of human life. Everything acts for some
end/purpose and so do humans. Different activities have
different ends still, some ‘ends’ are ‘superior’ to others
(ends apart from the actions (ex: instrumental goals)).

January
11, 2013/
Kelsey Wheeler

Speculative
philosophy: Aims at
answering big, ethical questions such as do human beings
know anything at all? Is there good or evil?

Critical
philosophy: The task of
looking at philosophers who have tried to answer big
questions, includes arguments and reasoning.

Most of
what we have studied and will study is critical philosophy.

We have
looked at Socrates attempt to find the definition of
justice.

Now,
Aristotle attempts to answer the question of what is
morality? Justice is a part of morality. Is it good for its
consequence? Good in itself? Does it have value?

Aristotle
attempts
to answer these questions using texts from Nicomachean
Ethics, which on a whole focuses on happiness. We will be
focusing on Books I and II.

Ethics
is a science, or a systematic way of studying a topic.

3
Principles of Aristotle’s Ethics

1.Practical
Discipline

2.Empirical Science

3.Teleological

Looking
at human beings over time, what is distinctive about humans
is out psyches or mind. Other traits such as eating and
sleeping we have in common with other living beings. Not all
beings, however, have capacity for emotion. Uniquely, we
have capacity for self-reflection and individual
aspirations. I.e. cats can’t choose to become something.

Ethics
is based on nature. Different natures entail different
activities, different functions. The kind of being you are
influences goals, activities. We all seek certain things, we
are different in nature as we can pursue different goals.

Aristotle
says we all commonly seek:

-friends/relationships

-life,
staying alive

-knowledge

-stability/security

Everyone
seeks certain things.

Humanity
is like all other organisms in nature. Everything is
striving towards some purpose, and this purpose is …..

But, to
achieve their purpose, human beings must behave in certain
ways.

Book
I

Aristotle
is talking about the “end”—the goal/purpose of human life.
Everything acts for some end/purpose, and humans do as well.
I.e. whenever you act, it is in order to do something.

Is
there a highest/ultimate end [for human beings]?

Aristotle
says yes.

Different
human ends can be ranked.

1.Achieved purposes
are better than their activity alone. There are different
ends i.e. short-term/long-term goals, some are more
important to us than others.

2.If there is
something which is not pursued for the sake of another, then
it is the highest good.

3.And since we do
rank ends/purposes, there must be a highest end or purpose

Everything
else would be a means to the highest end. SO, the ‘highest
end’ is one which is not pursued for the sake of another.
This ‘highest end’ is the same for all human beings, because
we all have the same nature. And this ‘end’ is distinctive
to all humans—and is reflected in what we do i.e. what our
function is.

The end that humans
seek is ‘the good’. We call is happiness—eudaimonia(leading
a fulfilling life).

But,
there is some disagreement about what exactly this happiness
amounts to.

SO, how
do we get there?

Requires
knowledge
about human nature. Something that satisfies us physical and
intellectually.

To get
happiness requires both physical excellence and intellectual
excellence.

January
14

Jan 21 - Kelly Mitchell

To be just person, to have virtue, excellence…
you must:

-Develop the right
habits

-Reinforce habits
by engaging in practice

But we may ask: how do I know what the right
choice in this situation is?
Two types of intellectual excellence:

-Theoreticalwisdom – Sophia

oGet from study, teaching, scientific experiment

-Practical wisdom –
phronesis

oThrough experience

Aristotle says – to know what the right choice
– must find the mean

-This is done
through practical wisdom

Aristotle says – this isn’t easy

-Being ethical is
hard

Some general guidelines on how to act in accord
with the mean:

-Know the facts of
the situation

-Figure out the
mean

-How to carry out
the mean

We need to know:

1.Sometimes this can
come from study

2.Sometimes, we can
get this by observing the just

a.Ex. mentors

3.Sometimes, we
should use certain “rules of thumb” (II, 9)

a.We know that
excess or deficiency tend to destroy a virtue

b.Watch out for what
most attracts us

c.Watch out for
pleasure – we are not impartial judges of pleasure

SUMMARY

-What is
morality/moral virtue (which includes justice)?

According to Aristotle:

-Follow the mean;
find the middle point

1.To be just, you
need to have the other virtues

a.Developing one
virtue helps you develop others

2.Justice is to get
“exactly” what you deserve (not too little or too much)

-When we say we
know a thing (i.e what a thing is), what exactly is it that
we know?

-BUT, how do things
come to be what they are?

February
19th, 2013 Jillian Scott

Aquinas:
the five ways

Read
the ‘bacground’
Pay attention to how he structures his discussion
Focus on ways 2 and 3
What is the conclusion?
What are the premises?

Aristotle: Physics
What is real? What reality is all about? (Metaphysics)
-What makes a thing what it is?
-What makes similar things, similar?
-What makes similar things distinct( different)?
-When we say we know a thing(ex. What a thing is), what
exactly is it that we know?
-BUT How do things come to be what they are?
Existing things:
-natural -> principle of motion within itself
-non-natural(artifacts)-> something that is
supernatural-> something not in motion.

What is motion?( or any kind of change)
“the actualization of that which is potential”
How does a thing move/change from potentiality to actuality?
-“Nothing has within itself the principle of its own
production” No thing moves/causes itself

It is self-evident that there are natures (and substances
with natures)and the attributes or properties of a thing
depend on them.
1.Substance->(what persists through change)
2.of some quality or quantity or relation (“ relative to
another”)-accidents
How does a substance ‘come to be’?
-When matter takes on a form
BUT how does matter ‘take on’ a form?
this brings us to ‘causes’

What caused that (event)? Ex, a bomb blast at an embassy
-the bomb itself
-the idea that the bomber has in mind?-She set off the bomb
-her ‘nature’- she’s a terrorist
-her ideal?-she wants to liberate her country.

Pg.35-36
Aristotle writes that there are many causes
-four causes
Ex. A sculptor
-the stone is the material cause
-the image in his mind of the finished product is the formal
cause-> the ‘form’ that he intends to put into the
matter.
-He is the efficient cause-> the agent that brings about
the effect
-His “goal”-> the purpose for which he makes the
statue(ex.to possess a beautiful object) is the final cause